Abortion necessary



By Chali Mulenga
THE Zambia Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (ZAGO)has instituted a research study aimed at ensuring safe abortion care in the country.
ZAGO secretary general Swebby Macha said the association wanted to determine the extent of maternal mortality resulting from unsafe abortion.
Dr Macha said yesterday when he made a presentation on the draft constitution and women’s reproductive health in Lusaka.
He said there is high maternal mortality in the country which is related to unsafe abortion and it is also linked the 5 millennium development goals (MGDs).
He said that the association has focused on the standards and guidelines that govern abortion provision in the country.
“We have focused on ensuring there is a comprehensive abortion care, that includes aspects of family planning,” he said.
Dr Macha said that the safe abortion care should focus on the family planning, safe abortion, post abortion management complications.
He said that the research assessment was made in a period of 3 years.
Dr Macha said that 25 per cent of the patients had received post abortion management complications by 2009.
He added that by 2011 the post abortion management complications are now at 70 per cent.
 Dr Macha said the programme has also managed to include the principle of offering at legal abortion or not.
“Family planning is key intervention in ensuring that abortion does not reoccur and more midwives have been trained to beef up the intake of the people that undergo abortion,” he said.
He said that midwives had been retrained to enlighten them on the use of loop and insertions as a way of family planning.
  Dr Macha said that there is an increase in the number of women that are seeking legal services as before the programme people did not know it is legal in the country.
He said that the access to the legal abortion had increased to 7 percent in 2011 and that before the programme was undertaken almost 0 per cent of the people that are.
“Legal abortions before 2009 documentation was poor so records are missing and not that there was no legal terminations,” he said.
Dr Macha said that most of the basic research and training was being done at university teaching hospital and that the scenario.
He however was quick to note that Lusaka, Copperbelt, Central and southern provinces is going to be rolled out.
 He added that theses provincial centres are able to offer safe abortions to the people and that it is not possible to find safe abortions in the rural areas.
He said that the increase in the high of abortion was due to limited access to the family planning especially in the rural areas where people are not able to space their children and end up having unwanted pregnancies.
“There is also a lot limited knowledge on abortion and that the providers of the abortion in the comunuity are not there,” he said.
Dr Macha said that they are limited places that offer safe abortions in the country as they can only be done where they are three physicians especially at general and central hospitals.
He said the newly proposed clause that life begins at conception does not belong to the Zambian constitution.
Dr Macha said the proposed law article 28 that states that every person has subject to clauses (2)and (3), the right to life which begins at conception.
He said that a person shall not be deprived of life intentionally except to the extent authorized by this constitution any other law.
 Dr Macha said that very few countries of the world have this phrase or similar ones in their constitutions.
“Of the world’s approximately 200 constitutions, only 13 state protection of the right to life before birth, twelve of these countries have a catholic majority,” he said.
 He said that different Christian religions recognise the need to protect life before birth differently.
Felicia Sakala said there is need to intensify the awareness campaigns on unsafe abortions.
She said that issue of women and girls dying from abortion are preventable.
Ms Sakala said that there is need to ensure that the myths about abortion die out.
She said a lot of women and girls to the UTH after procuring unsafe abortion.
End 

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